French Press Coffee — The Cheaper Single Cup Option

This week we had our first trip to the emergency room. All is fine – wheezing and coughing turned out to be a virus, not croup or pneumonia. But that doesn’t change the fact that ER trips are exhausting especially when they are at night. The next morning rolls around, the alarm clock goes off and an angry mama bear stomps her way out of bed.

Coffee, get in my face NOW!

I almost never make coffee at home on workdays only because my office has pretty good coffee available for staff. But on weekends and days when I’m home with a sick baby, I need something strong brewed in my kitchen and fast.

I have your standard drip coffee pot but you really need to make at least four cups in it for the coffee to taste good. I need one cup – maybe two on bad days – to get me going. I explored the one-cup coffee pots (Keurig, Senseo, etc) and quickly ruled them out for a few reasons, the biggest being cost. Did you know that coffee for those things can cost up to $51 per pound?! I consider it to be splurging when I pay $12 per pound of coffee! Now, I understand that sometimes there is value in paying for convenience. But still… I was not paying that much for regular ol’ coffee.

So how was I to get my one delicious cup of fuel – I mean, coffee? Enter the French press. Right off the bat, one of the key benefits of using a French press is sounding like you’re really high class. Pay no attention to my sweatpants, old t-shirt and disastrous hair! I make coffee in a French press. *Turns up nose*

My French press cost $20. You can buy more expensive ones – some of which have nice features like insulation so your coffee stays hot – but I went cheap and it works great.

Making coffee in a French press is actually super easy, cheap AND it makes an incredible cup of coffee. Any coffee connoisseur will tell you that it gives you the best cup of coffee, in fact. Bonus.

So how do you make it?

Start with coarsely ground coffee. In your grocery store there is usually a coffee grinder with various settings. One of those settings will be “coarse” or “French press.” Or you can always use your own grinder for this – just buy whole beans and grind it coarsely, not like coffee that goes into your drip coffee maker.

Boil some water. I use my teapot; you use whatever you use to boil water. You’ll need about 12 ounces for one cup of coffee.

While your water is boiling, add 1 scoop of coffee to your French press per 4 ounces of water that you’re boiling. I usually make 12 ounces so I add 3 scoops… plus another one for good luck (ie, for extra flavor and caffeine).

Once the water boils, measure out the 12 ounces of water and pour it into the French press over the coffee grounds. Give it a stir.

Put the plunger back in just to keep heat in – don’t push it all the way down! Let it steep for 3 minutes.

Once the 3 minutes is up, press the plunger all the way down slowly and evenly.

Michelle is a working mom living in the Washington,DC area with her husband, daughter, and crazy pound pup. Her days are spent doing public relations for a public health association; outside of work when she isn't trying to make her baby laugh or chasing her dog around the backyard, Michelle writes for her blog, EatNiks.com
(@Eatniks on Twitter). Food is her passion -- she loves writing, reading, and talking about food but mostly Michelle loves to cook and eat. She and her husband are very excited to show their daughter the wide world of deliciousness!

Evan – a standard coffee scoop is what u should use. I get a coffee cup full of water, boil it in a small pan, and pour it over regular ground coffee (1 scoop) and it makes the perfect single cup.
Michelle- we have a kuerig at work but sometimes I just have to have a cup of french pressed coffee. It is superior! Upon seeing me making a cup recently, a coworker commented, “Oh, arent you fancy”. I couldnt help but giggle. Its as low tech as it gets! Great read, Michelle. Thank you!